The Office des Postes et Telecommunications de Nouvelle-Caledonie (OPT-NC), the monopoly operator of telecoms networks in New Caledonia, has revealed it aims to connect 10,000 homes and businesses to its fibre-optic infrastructure by the end of 2017, as part of an extensive eight-year project to replace its copper network on a nationwide basis. The state-owned firm provides the infrastructure for the company’s ISPs – Can’L, Nautile, Micro Logic Solutions (MLS) and Internet NC – and also operates in the retail sector itself, via subsidiary Offratel (L@goon).
TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database states that a soft-launch of the fibre-optic access network took place in the Kamere area of Noumea in October 2015 and commercial services became available in select locations on 1 March 2016. From that date, OPT-NC began offering its ‘OPTimo THD’ service with maximum download speeds of 50Mbps, although to access the service, customers also require an internet subscription from one of the country’s ISPs. In September 2016 the 1,000th customer was connected to ONPT’s fibre network, increasing to 2,017 at the start of this year. OPT-NC ultimately plans to migrate its entire copper wire user base (business and residential) of more than 70,000 to all-IP fibre-based connections by the end of 2022.